Rug cleaning apparatus



Nov. 10,1970 R. w. CHOSEWOOD ETAL 3,533,534

RUG CLEANING APPARATUS Fned June 17, 1968 INVENTORS 'mwmouo w. cuosewooo IAARIE. 1.. cudszwooo BY Ji in/0n, J/Z/zh'n,

Z" (Y I-mMy dlllbmey United States Patent O 3,538,534 RUG CLEANING APPARATUS Raymond W. Chosewood and Marie L. Chosewood, both ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A rug cleaning apparatus for removing dust, dirt, and other debris from articles such as throw rugs and the like, including a hollow, closed housing, a perforated cylinder rotatably mounted Within the housing with means outside the housing for rotatably driving same, and a plurality of heating means within the perforated cylinder for agitating the article within the perforated cylinder as the same is rotated. A debris collection member is removably carried Within the housing under the perforated cylinder to selectively catch the debris discharged from the article within the cylinder and a funnel member is provided for connection to a vacuum source for selectively drawing air through the housing to assist in cleaning the article within the perforated cylinder.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates generally to cleaning apparatus and more particularly to a cleaning apparatus for cleaning small articles such as throw rugs by violently agitating the same and withdrawing the dirt and debris therefrom in a collection member.

Discussion of the prior art Previously, when a housewife cleaned articles such as rugs, she suspended the rug and then beat the same with a stick or a broom to discharge the dirt and debris therefrom. This operation generally resulted in discharging a large portion of the dirt and debris from the rug onto the person cleaning the same. Such an operation, then, is highly undesirable.

Prior art machinery is also available for use in large scale rug cleaning operations on a commercial basis. The cost of purchasing and operating such machinery is prohibitive. Therefore, the average housewife could not afford such a machine for her small rug cleaning jobs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION These and other problems associated with the prior art are overcome by the invention disclosed herein by providing an easily operated and effective rug cleaning apparatus which does not discharge the dirt and debris from the rug onto the user of the apparatus and which is very inexpensive to purchase and operate. Thus, every housewife can afford such a rug cleaning apparatus to easily and effectively clean her rugs, while at the same time remaining clean and neat.

The apparatus of the invention comprises generally a housing which rotatably mounts a perforated cylinder therein. A plurality of rug beating means are provided 3,538,534 Patented Nov. 10, 1970 'ice Within the perforated cylinder and a driving means rotatably drives the cylinder to clean a rug placed within the cylinder. The housing can be closed by a door pivoted thereto so that articles can be placed within the perforated cylinder and removed therefrom quite easily. A debris collection tray is provided below the perforated cylinder within the housing to collect dust and debris discharged from the rug. A funnel assembly is also built into the bottom of the housing below the perforated cylinder for connection to a convenient vacuum source for drawing an air current through the housing and the perforated cylinder to assist in discharging the dirt and debris from the rug.

These and other features and advantages of the invention will be more clearly understood upon consideration of the following specification and accompanying drawings wherein like characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout and in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective View of one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 2-2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a second embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 4-4 in FIG. 3 showing the gear arrangement for providing a counter-rotating perforated cylinder and beating means.

These figures and the following detailed description disclose specific embodiments of the invention; however, the inventive concept is not limited thereto, since it may be embodied in other forms.

DISCUSSION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the first embodiment of the invention comprises generally a housing H, a perforated cylinder C rotatably mounted within the housing H, means M for rotating the cylinder C and beating means B within the cylinder C. The housing H is a hollow rectangular member defined by a pair of vertical, spaced apart side walls 10 joined along their upper edges by a top wall 11 and joined at their rear ends by an end wall 12. The front of the housing H can be selectively sealed by a door 14 pivoted thereto. The door 14 provides access to the interior of the housing H and is provided with a conventional latch mechanism L to selectively retain the door 14 in a closed position. The bottom of the housing H is not closed and is constructed as will be explained hereinafter. A front crossbar 15 connects the lower front corners of the side walls 10 and a like rear crossbar 16 connects the lower rear corners of the side wall 10. A front bearing standard 18 extends upwardly from the crossbar 15 at its center portion and a like bearing standard 19 extends upwardly from the center portion of the rear crossbar 16. The perforated cylinder C is mounted between these bearing standards 18 and 19 for rotation.

The cylinder C includes a cylindrical side wall 20 having perforations 21 therethrough about the circumference thereof. The rear end of the cylinder C is closed by a circular end wall 22 while the front end thereof is open to permit access to the interior of the cylinder C.

A shaft 25 extends along the axis of the cylinder C and is rotatably carried by a bearing 26 in the upper end of the bearing standard 18 and by a bearing 28 in the upper end of the bearing standard 19. The shaft 25 extends rearwardly through the bearing 28 and the rear wall 12 of the housing H and is provided on the extending end thereof with a means M for rotating the shaft 25. While a crank 27 is illustrated for manually rotating the shaft 25, it is to be understood that other driving means M may be utilized to rotate the shaft 25.

The shaft 25 extends through the end wall 22 which is fixed to the shaft 25, and a plurality of spaced, radially extending support struts 24 connect the shaft 25 to the side wall 20 of the cylinder C. As the shaft 25 is rotated, the cylinder C will be rotated therewith. It will also be noted that the shaft 25 is angled upwardly toward the front of the housing H so that the front end of the cylinder C is higher than the rear end thereof. This insures that an article placed in the cylinder C will be maintained therein as the cylinder C is rotated.

A plurality of beating means B extend radially outward from the shaft 25 and are spaced longitudinally and circumferentially about the shaft 25. The beating means B are here shown as projections 29; however, it is to be understood that the heating means M may have different shapes depending on the particular application.

A debris collection tray 30 is slidably received in the housing 18 below the cylinder C on slide members 37 to selectively collect dirt and debris discharged from an article such as a rug being agitated within the cylinder C as the same is rotated. The tray 30 is selectively removable from the housing H to clean the same.

Also, a funnel assembly 31 is provided at the bottom of the housing H just under the collection tray 30. The assembly 31 includes an appropriately shaped spout 32 for connection to a vacuum source V such as a vacuum cleaner so that, when the tray 30 is removed from the housing H, and the spout 32 connected to a vacuum source V shown in dashed lines, air will be pulled through air vents 34 in the top of the housing H and through the cylinder C to assist in discharging all of the dust, dirt and debris from the article carried within the cylinder C. The dust, dirt and debris discharged is then withdrawn from the housing H under the air flow of vacuum source V.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the second embodiment of the invention includes a housing H, collection tray 30 and funnel assembly 31 identical to the first embodiment of the invention. In the second embodiment of the invention, the cylinder C has a side wall 120 perforated at 121 as does the cylinder C and has a central shaft 125 extending therethrough which is rotatably mounted within the bearings 26 and 28 respectively in the upper ends of the bearing standards 18 and 19. In this embodiment of the invention, the shaft 125 rotatably mounts therearound a sleeve 150 which mounts the heating means M. The sleeve 150 extends from just rearwardly of the support struts 124 through a bearing 151 in the rear wall 122 of the cylinder C so that the shaft 125may be rotated in one direction while the sleeve 150 with the beating means M extending therefrom rotates in the opposite direction, or rotates at a faster or slower rate than the cylinder C.

The means for rotating the sleeve 150 with respect to the shaft 125 and the cylinder C is provided through a gearing arrangement 153 which includes a spur gear 154 fixed to the shaft 125, a first idler gear 155 rotatably driven by the spur gear 154 and rotatably mounted by the housing H and a second idler gear 156 rotatably driven by the idler gear 155 and rotatably mounted by the housing H. The second idler gear 156 rotatably drives a spur gear 158 fixedly attached to the rearmost extending end of the sleeve 150. It will thus be seen that as the gear 154 is rotated in one direction by the shaft 125, the spur gear 158 will rotate in the opposite direction and thereby 4 drive the sleeve with the beating means M thereon in the opposite direction. This serves to greatly increase the beating efficiency of the invention due to the increased agitation of the article within the cylinder C. Otherwise, the operation of this embodiment of the invention is the same as the first embodiment thereof.

OPERATION Both embodiments of the invention are used in the same manner. If the debris from the article is to be collected in the tray 30, it is left in position during the cleaning operation. If the vacuum source V is to be used with the invention, then the tray 30 is removed and the vacuum source V connected to the funnel assembly 31. The vacuum source V is then activated.

The door 14 is opened and the article is placed in the cylinder C. Then the door 14 is closed and the driving means M activated to rotate the cylinder C and clean the article.

Although specific embodiments of the invention have been disclosed herein, it is understood that the full use of substitutions, modifications and equivalents may be utilized without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A cleaning apparatus for removing dirt, dust, and other debris from small articles comprising:

(a) a housing having an open end, with selectively movable closure means mounted on said housing for movement between an open condition to allow articles being cleaned to be inserted and removed therefrom and a closed sealed condition during a cleaning operation;

(b) a cylinder for receiving said articles, having a cylindrical surface defining perforations therethrough, said cylinder including a substantially open end and a substantially closed end, said substantially open end being detailed for receiving and removing articles and said substantially closed end being detailed to prevent articles being cleaned from passing therethrough;

(c) means rotatably mounting said cylinder in said housing in such a manner that said cylinder open end is located adjacent said housing open end, and wherein said cylinder axis is disposed at a downwardly sloping angle away from said housing open end;

(d) a beating means carried within said cylinder for agitating said articles carried within said cylinder;

(e) means operatively associated with said cylinder for rotating said cylinder in said housing about said downwardly sloping axis; and,

(f) means disposed within said housing below said cylinder for collecting the dirt, dust, and other debris discharged from said articles.

2. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1 further including means for rotating said beating means with respect to said cylinder as said cylinder rotates.

3. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said collecting means includes a tray slidably carried within said housing under said cylinder.

4. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1 for use with a vacuum source wherein said collecting means includes a funnel assembly defining a discharge connectable to said vacuum source for drawing an air current through said housing and said cylinder, and an aperture defined through the top of said housing for the introduction of air into said housing.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said cylinder rotating means includes a hand crank manually engageable for rotating said cylinder.

6. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1 further including a shaft rotatably mounted in said housing, said cylinder secured to said shaft concentrically thereabout for rotation therewith,

7. The apparatus as set forth in claim 6 wherein said beating means comprises a plurality of projections securer to said shaft at spaced intervals along the length thereof and extending outwardly from said shaft perpendicular thereto.

8. The apparatus as set forth in claim 6 further including means for rotating said beating means with respect to said cylinder as said cylinder rotates and wherein said beating means comprises a sleeve rotatably mounted on said shaft and including a plurality of projections secured to and extending radially outward from said sleeve.

9. The apparatus as set forth in claim 8 wherein said means for rotating said beating means with respect to said cylinder includes a gearing arrangement operatively connecting said shaft with said sleeve so that when said shaft and cylinder are rotated, said sleeve and plurality of projections will be rotated with respect thereto.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain. Germany.

ROBERT W. MICHELL, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

